Zenica
This small mosque in Kraljeva Sutjeska, near Kakanj, stands a short walk from the remains of the medieval Bosnian royal court and the Franciscan friary. Local…
This small mosque in Kraljeva Sutjeska, near Kakanj, stands a short walk from the remains of the medieval Bosnian royal court and the Franciscan friary. Local tradition holds that it was built in 1463, after Sultan Mehmed II, al-Fatih, took the nearby royal fortress of Bobovac, which makes it one of the oldest mosques in Bosnia. A local legend says the sultan watched an ant climbing a stick in a spiral and took it as the image of a minaret. The mosque is a simple rectangular building with adobe walls on stone foundations, a tiled roof and an octagonal wooden minaret rising from the ridge. Inside, the old oak columns, gallery and minbar survive, and around fifty old headstones stand in the graveyard beside the Trstionica stream. It was restored to its original form between 2004 and 2016 and is a national monument. The ruins of Bobovac can be reached on a walk from the village.